Portland Made Launch Party Tonight!

The goal of Portland Made is just broad enough that it takes a minute to wrap your head around. It's an online hub that ultimately aims to include every single product that is manufactured in Portland (not just tea towels and stationary but mattresses, bikes, and eventually food products), where visitors to the site can browse maker profiles, connect with retailers, and even purchase items for later pickup. It's also a quasi-social networking service for its makers, designers, retails, and manufacturers to ask and field questions, pool resources, and form mutually beneficial partnerships. Created jointly by Supportland and ADX, you know the ambition doesn't stop there. One of the most exciting things they are doing is pairing with researchers at PSU to create metrics tracking the job creation powers of local manufacturing, creating numbers that they can then bring to decision-makers in local and state government, with the idea of collecting evidence for the argument that the economic health of our community doesn't just live and die at the hands of biggies like Vestas and Adidas.

I spoke at length this week about the project, and tonight's official launch party, with ADX's Kelley Roy for this week's Sold Out column, but if you're more of a visual person, check out the official launch video by Will Nelson of Megamouth below, and stop by ADX tonight at 7 for speeches by the mayor, State Representative Jules Bailey, dancin', drinkin', and more!